


An Offer Freely Given

by Ginger2012



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mighty Nein as Family, POV Jester Lavorre, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginger2012/pseuds/Ginger2012
Summary: Set directly after the events of c2 ep124. The Mighty Nein are about to leave Yussa's tower and head to the Lavish Chatteau, when Caleb pulls Jester aside for a moment and makes her an offer.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & Caleb Widogast
Kudos: 34





	An Offer Freely Given

**Author's Note:**

> See Notes at the end for more thoughts.

Before she steps out of the door, Jester feels a gentle hand on her arm and turns to find Caleb behind her. His head is lowered, but he glances up at her from beneath his lashes, eyes soft as always when looking at her.

“Jester, may I speak with you privately for a moment?”

She looks back to where the rest of the party has finished filing out of Yussa’s tower; Veth and Fjord have started ribbing each other again, so it appears they have a few moments before they’ll be missed by the rest of the Nein.

“Sure Caleb! What’s up?” It isn’t often that their wizard pulls her aside, and the request for privacy has her curiosity peaked.

“Before we go see your mother–” Caleb’s eyes drop to the floor, and he releases his gentle grip on her arm to begin twisting his fingers together. “Well, I cannot give you back what the statues took from you, but I’ve, uh, I’ve been thinking on it, and I can – that is, I’m pretty sure I can – reverse the physical effects of aging. Permanently. For you, I mean. If… if that was something you worried about your mother seeing.” His eyes dart back to find hers before flitting away again restlessly.

“Oh.” Jester rocks back on her heels. She hadn’t exactly forgotten her encounter with the creepy stone statues that sucked years of her life away before giving her an unsettling vision of the living city that is still a looming threat in their lives… but it had been a few days since the last time she’d thought about the length of her horns, or the new tiny creases forming at the corners of her eyes. To be fair, there wasn’t much time to think about appearances when fleeing your ex-dead, ex-friend across an icy tundra.

“That’s. Um.” She’s at an honest loss for words.

“I just know you worry about how worried she is for you, and if you felt this was something you wanted to keep from her… or if it was something _you_ wanted… well, I just wanted to let you know it’s an option.”

It’s true, her mother would probably be terrified to see the physical evidence that her daughter lost a significant number of years of life from her escapades with the Mighty Nein. Not that there was anything to be done about it – Marion couldn’t keep Jester locked away from the world anymore, and Jester wouldn’t let the direst of consequences stop her from travelling with her friends and keeping them safe. _And_ she was sure Marion would figure it out even if she did hide her new appearance somehow, even with a simple _Disguise Self_ spell. Her mother was very good at reading Jester, and would know something had changed.

“Thanks, Caleb, but I don’t think I want to do that. Mama would know, even if I didn’t look any different. She’s very smart, you know!”

Caleb smiles. “Your mother is very perceptive.”

“Totally! And besides, I’ve gotten used to the new look and I don’t mind it!” Caleb’s head jerks up and his eyes flare a bit with panic.

“I didn’t mean to imply – that is, it’s very, uh, becoming on you. Your, um, your horns…” He trails off with a shaky gesture at her head. Jester giggles.

“It’s okay, Caleb, I know what you meant!” She leans into his space a little bit and lowers her voice. “Fjord says I look more intimidating this way!” She wiggles her eyebrows in that way she knows makes him turn red.

Caleb flushes on cue and glances back and forth between her horns.

“ _Ja_. That’s… accurate.”

Jester giggles again and leans away from him.

“Now that you’ve brought it up, though, I did want to talk to you about the aging thing…” Jester waits for Caleb’s eyes to find her face once more. “I know you can’t do anything right now to fix it, but you keep learning new magic all the time! And I know you were able to help Veth after a lot of studying, and… well, I was wondering—”

“Of course!” Caleb cuts in, and his hand comes close to alighting on her arm again, before falling back to his side. “Of course I will continue to research ways to help you! You deserve all the time possible to live your life, Jester, and I mean to try to help you get it back. But…” Caleb smiles in that sad way of his after trailing off. Jester hates that smile.

“But what?”

“But, in the meantime… if you need to talk to someone about suddenly missing years of your life… well. I know it’s a bit different, but when I, uh, woke up again after the Sanitorium, I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror for a long time. Quit looking, to be honest.” Caleb shrugs and chuckles a little under his breath. “I guess what I’m saying is, I can empathize with your situation, if you need to talk about it with someone who’s been there, too.” 

Jester can feel the prickling of tears behind her eyes. She finds it easy to forget that Caleb lost a decade of his life at the hands of Icky Thong in that asylum. The image of Caleb, usually so bright and buzzing with magic, nearly catatonic in a lonely room with no Mighty Nein to save him… it was too terrible to dwell on for long.

But she’d never even _thought_ to picture that time from his point of view; what it must have been like to suddenly find himself alert, grieving and scared, and then to realize he was ten years older than he remembered. That the actions he regretted so much we’re already ancient history, and that the world had moved on around him. That in his absence, his friends had experienced a full decade of life, of _growth_ , and he had been left behind. Those years had been stolen from him, and it wasn’t _fair_ , and at least Jester got to ask an important question of the statues before they had taken anything from her…

Jester closes the distance between them and wraps her arms carefully around Caleb’s back.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Caleb!”

Caleb doesn’t say anything, but Jester’s almost certain she can feel his hands rest on her shoulder blades in the tiniest of reciprocated hugs. She lets the moment stretch until she can feel him start to stiffen uncomfortably. She places a swift kiss on his cheek before pulling completely away.

His eyebrows raise and he blinks hard several times before his eyes seem to come back into focus. Jester smiles.

“I appreciate the offer, and I’ll definitely take you up on it soon! I don’t really know how to feel about what happened out there; we really haven’t had much time to worry about anything but Lucien and the City! But I’m sure I feel some way about it… talking to you will probably help me decide!”

“ _Ja_. Uh, _ja_ , whenever is good for you.” Caleb clears his throat. Jester’s smile widens as she turns to face their gathered friends outside on the street.

“I’ll let you know, Caleb! But first, let’s go see Mama!” Jester skips toward the rest of the Nein, but starts mentally preparing herself for the impending talk with her mother. Once they’ve settled in for a night of rest – their first night of _true_ rest in what feels like ages – she’ll consider Caleb’s offer more carefully. She might even try to find a way to help Caleb, too, since it’s obvious he’s still hurting even after all this time. But the Lavish Chateau beckons, and she will have time for the confusing feelings roiling around in her chest later.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a brief scene I couldn't stop thinking about now that the characters are level 14 and Caleb has access to his Master Transmuter: Restore Youth ability. We all know how he feels about Jester, and there's no way (in a universe where the characters got infinite time to follow through on every plot thread) he wouldn't offer to help Jester with all the abilities in his possession. ALSO - they've both lost significant time and I just think they should talk about it at some point!


End file.
